Defence Secretary Michael Fallon, pictured with Lt Gen John Gordon Lorimer, claims campaigners for a Leave vote are being seduced by a 'romantic' vision of a 'better yesterday'Credit:
JULIAN SIMMONDS FOR THE TELEGRAPH

The Defence Secretary insists that none of his counterparts elsewhere in Europe want to create an EU Army, despite fears that Brussels is planning a new military force that could undermine Nato.

Writing in The Telegraph, he warns that "walking away" would weaken the European Union and dismay Britain's allies in the West.

Mr Fallon claims campaigners for a Leave vote in next month's referendum are being seduced by a "romantic" vision of "a better yesterday". The public must reject these "dreams", be "practical" and vote to Remain, he says.

Leave campaigners have claimed that the EU is secretly planning to create a new European defence force, which they say will damage the transatlantic Nato alliance that has kept the peace for the past 70 years.

The head of foreign policy in the EU, Federica Mogherini, is said to have spent 18 months preparing the plan, which is expected to be discussed by European leaders at a summit on June 28 - five days after the referendum.

Last week, senior Tories campaigning for Brexit warned voters were being "conned" by Brussels officials who are keeping the plans for a European army secret until after polling day.

Liam Fox, the former defence secretary who served under David Cameron, warned that the ambitions showed the EU is wedded to the "dangerous fantasy" of creating a single defence force.

Britain will never be part of an EU army. We have a veto on all EU defence matters and we would oppose any move to create one. In fact I don't know any European defence minister who wants a European army."

He says the EU "complements" Nato. "If Britain left, the EU would be smaller and weaker. Putin would undoubtedly welcome that.

"Countries who escaped the Soviet bloc joined us in Europe for their security and because they share our values of democracy, freedom and the rule of law."

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Mr Fallon says: "When Russia annexed Crimea, it was only through the EU that we were able to impose sanctions: Nato couldn't do that. It is the EU, the world's largest trading bloc, which has that power. And it was only through British leadership that the EU imposed those sanctions and that they still apply today."

Mr Fallon insists that he is a Eurosceptic and will still be one after he votes to Remain in the EU on June 23. But he adds: "There may be something romantic about walking away from the EU - but there is nothing practical about it."

Last week, more than a dozen retired military leaders publicly backed leaving the EU including veterans who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Falklands.

General Sir Michael Rose, a former director of special forces, was among those who backed an Out vote, despite having previously been added to a Number 10 list of EU supporters.

Sir Michael argued that the EU has "seriously undermined" the Armed Forces and risks reducing soldiers to "civilians in uniform" if Britain does not head for the exit door.

Ms Villiers, the Northern Ireland Secretary, challenged David Cameron to veto Turkey's bid for EU membership to stop a surge of immigrants, if Britain remains in the bloc after next month's referendum.

In an interview with The Telegraph, Ms Villiers warned that jihadist fighters with the so-called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil), also known as Daesh, were already operating in Turkey.

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Europe's "free movement" rules would allow all Turkish citizens to travel to Britain when the country eventually joins the EU, she said.

"Given the proximity of Turkey to immediate neighbours with significant problems of radicalisation, that would inevitably be a worry. There are reports of former Daesh fighters already in Turkey," Ms Villiers said.

"Certainly there would be some security concerns with [EU] expansion to include Turkey. Extending the EU's external borders to Syria, Iraq and Iran inevitably would have implications for security."